Tulare County Biographies
Cuthbert Burrel
Submitted by Sally Kaleta, March, 2007
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
Cuthbert Burrel, a prominent rancher of Tulare County, came
to California in 1846, arriving on the first of October. A brief sketch of his
career is as follows: Mr. Burrel was born in Wayne County, New York, November
28, 1824, son of George and Mary (Robinson) Burrel, natives of Northumberland
County, England. His grandfather, Cuthbert Burrel, was an English squire, and
his great-grandfather's name was Thomas Burrel. The subject of our sketch was
the fourth in a family of nine children, five of whom are still living. In 1834,
when he was ten years old, the family moved to Plainfield, Will County,
Illinois. There he was reared and educated. At the age of twenty-two he came
across the plains to California, driving an ox team, and being six months,
lacking twelve days, en route. Their captain was Stephen A. Cooper, an
experienced frontiersman. Mr. Barrel was in service under General Fremont six
months, during which time was promoted to sergeant, and after his discharge went
to Sutter's fort. There he found the wagon in which he crossed the plains, and
in it traveled to Yount's in Napa County, taking with him one of the children of
the Donner party. He then went to Sonoma, where he was employed by Salvador
Vallejo to cover a house; remained there during the summer of 1847, and for his
work received $100 in cash, 100 flirkins of wheat and 200 heifers. In 1848 he
was making hay in Suisun Valley. One day Johnny Patton brought down five or six
hundred dollars' worth of gold in a little bed-ticking sack, remained with the
hay-makers for dinner and told them about the find. They decided not to return
to the field, sold their interest in the hay and started for the mine. It was
not until five years afterward that Mr. Burrel received his pay for the hay,
then getting it in gold dust at $8 per ounce. He mined off and on for three
years. The most he ever mined in one day was $112; the largest piece of gold he
found weighed five ounces, and his usual day's work amounted to $16. Upon
leaving the mines, Mr. Burrel purchased land in Green Valley, Solano County,
where he farmed and raised stock until 1860. He then sold out, received his pay
in cattle, and took them - 1,311 head - to Elkhorn ranch, Fresno county, where
he remained engaged in the stock business until the fall of 1869. His cattle,
which were then estimated at 4,000 head, he sold for $103,000, the parties
paying $23,000 down and agreeing to pay $20,000 every six months, they having
the use of his ranch of 20,000 acres. It was six years, however, before he
received all the payments, and with the interest it amounted to a large sum of
money. In 1871 Mr. Burrel returned to the States. From 1871 until 1874 he was
not actively engaged in any business. In the meantime he suffered a stroke of
paralysis and came near losing his life. In 1874 he purchased 1,000 acres of his
ranch in Tulare County, located five miles northwest of Visalia. Since then he
bought another thousand, and now has 2,000 acres of fine farming land all in one
body. For five years his nephew, Frank Burrel, ran the ranch. He then sold out
his interests and died soon afterward of consumption. During these years the
subject of our sketch resided with his family in San Jose. He was married in
1873, to Mrs. Adalza (Haycock) Adams, widow of Frank Adams. Their union has been
blessed with five children, the first two being twins. Three of the children are
living, namely: Vernia Jennet, May and Lewella. They have an elegant home in San
Jose, corner of William and Third Streets, where they make their headquarters.
Mr. Burrel belongs to the Pioneer Society of California. Previous to the war he
was a Democrat; since then his political views have been in harmony with
Republican principles. He is a director of the San Jose First National Bank, and
also of three other banks. He still has Fresno county interests, owning 1,800
acres of land there. In Mr. Burrel we find a true type of the California
pioneer. He is the same pleasant, kind-hearted, hospitable man that he was in
the early history of the state.
Source: "The Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Fresno, Tulare
and Kern, California," Lewis Publ. Co., 1892, pp. 407-408.
In Wayne county, in central New York, Cuthbert Burrel was born November 28,
1824, a son of George and Mary (Robinson) Burrel, natives of England, his
grandfather, for whom he was named, being an English squire. Of his parents'
nine children, Cuthbert was the fourth in order of nativity. In 1834, when he
was ten years old, his people moved to Plainfield, Will county, Ill., where he
attended school and grew to man's estate. He crossed the prairies and mountains
to California in 1846, driving an ox-team, and consuming almost six months' time
in making the journey. Stephen A. Cooper was the leader of the party which with
its belongings constituted the train.
For about six months Mr. Burrel was in army service under Fremont, and after his
discharge he went to Sutter's Fort, and there he found the wagon in which he had
made his overland journey. Procuring it, he traveled in it to Yount's ranch, in
Napa county, taking with him one of the children of the historic Donner party.
Later he went to Sonora, where he was employed during the summer of 1847 by
Salvator Vallejo, and for his work received $100 cash, one hundred firkins of
wheat and two hundred heifers. In 1848, working in a hay field in Suisun valley
one day, he was approached by John Patton, who showed $500 worth of gold that he
had brought down from the mountains, assuring Mr. Burrel and the latter's
companions that there was plenty more where that had come from. The haymakers at
once determined to work no longer in the field, sold their interests in the hay
and set out for the mines. Mr. Burrel mined three years, but soon after leaving
the mines, he bought land in Green valley, Solano county, where lie farmed and
raised stock until 1860. Then he sold his ranch for thirteen hundred and eleven
head of cattle, which he drove to the Elkhorn ranch in Fresno county, where he
raised stock until his death, acquiring there a ranch of twenty thousand acres.
He was in the east during the period 1871-1874. Coming back to California in the
latter year, he bought a thousand acres of land in Tulare county, five miles
northwest of Visalia, and later he bought an additional thousand acres.
In 1873 Mr. Burrel married Mrs. Adaliza H. Adams, who has borne him four
children, three of whom are living: Varina J., May and Luella (Mrs. Richard E.
Hyde, Jr.). Mr. Burrel was a member of the Society of California Pioneers and
was widely known throughout the San Joaquin valley. He found time from his
farming and stock-raising to interest himself in business and commercial
matters, as is evidenced by the fact that he was a director of the First
National Bank of San Jose, and assisted in the founding of the Bank of Visalia.
His landed interests became extensive and he was one of the leading men in his
vicinity. He died August 7, 1893, deeply regretted by a wide circle of
acquaintances.
History of Tulare and Kings Counties, California with Biographical Sketches -
Los Angeles, Calif., Historic Record Company, 1913, pp. 703-704
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler